PUBLIC INTEREST LITIGATION (PIL)

1. Banesar Begum
2. Mst. Kamala
3. Mst. Sufia
4. Mst. Samraj
5. Sohel Rana
6. Coalition for the Urban Poor (CUP)
7. Bangladesh Legal Aid and Services Trust (BLAST)

1. Secretary, Ministry of Housing and Public Works
2. Chairman, National Housing Authority
3. Deputy Director, National Housing Authority
4. Secretary, Economic Relations Division (ERD), Ministry of Finance
5. Officer-in Charge, Pallabi Police, Station, Dhaka
6. missioner, Dhaka.
7. Secretary, Dhaka South City Corporation.

The Bauniabad Pukurpar Basti in Mirpur, Dhaka is home to around 3,000 people, including women, children and elderly persons, many of whom are descendants of families resettled under the government-led BGD/77/C35 project for 2,600 squatter families, implemented with support from UNCDF, UNICEF and UNDP. The residents have lived in the area for decades and depend on informal livelihoods, with many holding NID addresses and utility connections at the settlement. On 20 May 2026, persons claiming to be government officials, including from the National Housing Authority, began demolishing parts of the settlement without prior written notice, public announcement or provision of alternative accommodation, leaving many families homeless. Despite representations to the Government and a human chain held on 21 June 2026, no effective measures were taken to provide shelter or rehabilitation. Consequently, five affected residents, along with BLAST, filed a Public Interest Litigation challenging the eviction and demolition, seeking publication of the original resettlement agreement and layout plan, compliance with legal principles on rehabilitation of slum dwellers, and an injunction restraining further eviction and disturbance of the residents’ possession.

Mr. Justice Ahmed Sohel and Mr. S.M. Iftekhar Uddin Mahamud